Turntable Ironing Board

One of the really brilliant things about Blogs is how quickly good ideas get passed around. We just got an email about Ricky and Alex's Quilt Show which you might want to check out. On it they mentioned a really neat and easy-to-make tool that would also make an excellent gift. The idea came from a blog in Germany.




Basically, take a quick trip to Ikea (although we would debate whether a trip to Ikea is ever quick!) to purchase the base for the ironing board (in Ikea-speak SNUDDA 39 cm). Cut out some wadding (like Quilters Dream Select, Armofleece or Warm and Natural) to the size of SNUDDA, a fabric circle in your choice of fabric (or use a new tea towel) larger than the base and in a Yo-Yo style gather the fabric around the base and pull tight.

Before you know it you'll be able to use your Clover Mini Iron and be ironing with ease!

Ho Ho Yo-Yo

Janet, our resident Yo-yo expert, has been making Christmas decorations using the Clover Yo-yo makers, one of the Christmas Bauble Fat Quarter Packs and some Gold Bias Tape.

They are very easy to make and take about 20 minutes. They are quick and easy and make a perfect little project whilst watching the TV. The joys of being able to multi-task! By putting two Yo-yos back to back and sewing a loop of ribbon in between she was able to create a nice hoop to allow them to be hung from a Christmas Tree.

Positive Feedback

It's not often that we post feedback from customers on our site but we've had some very nice emails recently so we thought we should!

It is also lovely to see people at shows and in the shop and to get that feedback in person - good or bad. We know that sometimes we could do better but we do try to put things right if they go wrong!

Our first email was sent from a customer who had ordered for the first time from us and wouldn't you know it, one of the items was damaged in transit. This is what she wrote...

Dear Cottonpatch

Thank you very much for your good service.

I made my first order with you recently and was very impressed by the speed and quality of service and the good packaging. Also, I had a problem with my order which you responded to immediately by replacing the damaged item. It is not often these days that one can receive such good service and so I think it should not pass without my remarking upon it.

Keep up the good work and I look forward to future purchases.

Yours sincerely

JP

Today we received a lovely email

Date: 17 Oct 2007 18:06:10 GMT
From: xxxxxxxxx@msn.com
Subject: loving the shop
To: mailorder@cottonpatch.co.uk
Name:c h
Email Address: xxxxxxxxx@msn.com

Message: i would just like to say how much i love the look of all your products, your site is well laid out and the stuff looks amazing. i am extremely happy with the variety of stock you show and sell. i have not found a single site to match the high quality of this one. thank you very much.

We have passed the feedback onto our webmaster. Makes it all worthwhile!

Sunray Quilt

Congratulations to the Compassionate Friends Group - their quilt is now complete and a picture of the end result is shown below. Thank you to Irene for sending the photo in and sharing it with us.

I love the way that each person has been able to use fabric to express the individuality of each child.

A beautiful result...

2007/2008 Catalogue

We are delighted with the response to our latest Mail Order Catalogue which is being delivered at the moment.

We hope you find it a useful reference for your patchwork and quilting notions. Despite the effects of the postal strike, which delayed delivery of the catalogue, we have also been able to mail parcels and where items were urgent our courier option has proved popular.

We felt it was important to highlight the effects that a long-term strike could have on small businesses like ourselves. BBC 2's Working Lunch and the Today programme on Radio 4 took up that story and broadcast it to a wider audience, which resulted in a greater awareness of the problem and comments from the Goverment that a resolution was needed soon. The positive message now is that, providing agreement is reached with the Royal Mail and CWU, the postal system will get back to normal soon.

Web email newsletter subscribers will know that we have some excellent offers on the website at the moment - on frames, daylight lights and Cotty boxed sets.

These larger items are normally sent by courier (some restrictions apply). Please note that for courier deliveries a signature is required on delivery and we will need to contact you to arrange the delivery date so please indicate on your "invoice to " address the daytime number we can use to contact you. We will also need a phone number for the "delivery to" address.

Cotton Patch on the BBC

As you may be aware the Royal Mail employees (members of the CWU) are staging two 48-hour strikes which began yesterday. It is having an impact on our ability to get parcels out to you, our customers. Our 2007/8 catalogue is printed but can't be mailed out. However, you can still go to our website and you can download a copy as well as placing an order online.

This kind of situation can have potentially devastating effects on a small business like ours. We had the opportunity of highlighting this on the BBC2 program Working Lunch yesterday.

Liz Sewell was interviewed by Simon Gompertz on how the alternative mail delivery providers are not a full substitute for Royal Mail as even if we sent out the catalogue using an alternative the final delivery is still done by Royal Mail. To see the program you can view it at the following link

We are offering the following to our customers whilst the strike is in progress:

1) If you are close enough to visit please come and see us! The first five customers every day will get an attractive notepad and pencil with magnet (no purchase necessary) for putting on your fridge - always handy to have! Please quote "early bird" when you visit.

2) If you place an order online and would like to pick it up from the shop customers will be offered a free gift from a large selection of patchwork and quilting related items when they pick their order up - you choose the one you would like - most are worth over £5 in value.

To do so:

On your checkout specify The Cotton Patch as your delivery to address, the date of your visit as the second line and complete our address and postcode (B28 9AJ). We will have your order ready for you - please allow at least a day for your order to be prepared (This is subject to stock being available).

3) For those customers who can't visit we can offer a flat-rate £8.50 next day courier delivery instead of our usual Priority Service. This is subject to some product and location restrictions but most products and destinations are covered. This will be up on the website as an option when you select your postal delivery method. We require a signature on delivery for this method so please specify a different delivery address (such as your work address) if you are normally out during the day.

Thank you for your patience - we hope that the dispute gets resolved quickly and that normal service will be resumed soon.